... human activities that are damaging to the environment could threaten the eco-system and the country's bio-diversity, putting future prospects of this tourism goldmine in quagmire. Indeed, a 2007 national forest inventory established that the leading threats to forests include illegal tree cutting accounting for 78.3%, charcoal burning at 4.9%, livestock grazing (2.5%), farming activities (1.9%) and bushfires (1.9%).
According to the 2009 report by the United Nations environment agency UNEP on Rwanda's "State of Environment and Outlook," forests covered 26% of the land area in 1993 but this had drastically decreased to 19% by 2004.
UNEP attributes the harmful human activities to the rapid increase in population estimated at about 3% annually which leads to forest encroachment and deforestation for settlement, agriculture and grazing land. The ever-volatile Eastern Congo also adds to these threats.
